NET ZERO A CHALLENGE WE MUST ACCEPT

THYS Heyns (GA, 18/5) highlights the huge challenge facing the world in reaching net zero by 2050, but there is an additional hurdle we face – the politicisation of climate policy.

Too often the debate over the best way to tackle climate change descends into fearmongering (energy prices will rise, taxes will increase, workers will be thrown on the unemployment scrap heap, etc), and misinformation (whatever we do won’t make any difference, it’s part of the Earth’s natural climate cycle).

It certainly will not be easy building infrastructure in a timely manner and it certainly won’t be easy getting everybody on the same page, but as US president J.F. Kennedy said of the race to land a man on the moon: “We do this, not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because it will serve to organise the best of our energies and skills, because it is a challenge that we are willing to accept, and one that we are unwilling to postpone.”

Graeme Lechte,

Brunswick West